> I'd love to be proven wrong but that hypothetical general AI is at least decades away in my humble opinion.
I hope so. General AI is the source of dreams and nightmares, and I think it will take us decades just to adequately prepare for it from a safety & management perspective.
> Now would be a great time to join and make contributions.
Sincere question : short of embarking on a PhD, is AI research something the average dev (even a very, very enthusiastic one) can reasonably hope to contribute to?